Why government students struggle financially

A majority of government-sponsored students coming from financially unstable families are likely to send their Helb money home to support their families.

Unhealthy relationships between university students and gullible first years: Male students waste their Helb and pocket money in unstable relationships with their female counterparts. Additionally, gullible first-year male students are cheated into spending their money on continuing female students who milk them dry before leaving them.

Rent demands: Few guardians follow up with their students to know whether they have accommodation inside the university. Today, no single university can afford to accommodate all its students. This forces a majority of students to seek accommodation outside the school where they pay unsubsidised rent every month.

Unbudgeted-for course demands: Student life is not just about paying school fees, accommodation, and meals. Students spend a significant amount of money every day printing out documents, typesetting coursework, and photocopying notes. Most guardians never plan for such expenses.

Lack of financial knowledge: A majority of government-sponsored students handle huge amounts of cash for the first time when they go to university. These students are likely to waste away the Helb money on expensive smartphones and other unnecessary things. Students are increasingly losing money through betting.

There are also cases of guardians who take students’ loans to start businesses and never pay them back.

To help our students, universities need to strengthen the office of career services, counselling departments, and to continuously provide financial literacy skills to help students manage the money they get from Helb.